title: Fighting bacterial infections-future treatment options.
abstract: This review summarizes ongoing research aimed at finding novel drugs as alternatives to traditional antibiotics. Anti-virulence approaches, phage therapy and therapeutic antibodies are strategies that may yield drugs with high specificity and narrow spectra. Several candidates are currently being evaluated in clinical trials, mostly for topical applications, but so far, none have been approved for market authorization. Candidates based on antimicrobial peptides (natural, semisynthetic and synthetic) are also being tested in clinical trials, mostly for the topical treatment of chronic infections. An alternative to the development of new antibiotics is to find potentiators of traditional antibiotics; in this respect, beta-lactamase inhibitors are already in clinical use. Novel variants are under investigation as well as efflux pump inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Swedish Research Council, Vetenskapsrådet, Klarabergsviadukten 82, Box 1035, 101 38 Stockholm, Sweden. jenny.fernebro@vr.se
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fernebro
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000627:therapeutic use; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000378:metabolism; D002908:Chronic Disease; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D015195:Drug Design; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D065093:beta-Lactamase Inhibitors; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D065093:beta-Lactamase Inhibitors; D001618:beta-Lactamases